Waking in the Clearing
by nibo
Summary: Five years later, Remus thought he had his werewolf under control. That is, until one morning when he woke up in the middle of the woods and didn't remember how he got there. Surprise of all, though, there's a naked young woman beside him!
1. The Challenge

This ficlet was written as part of a challenge on the 30minutefics community on LiveJournal.

**Challenge: **The Other Werewolf Challenge

_It's five years into the future, and Remus Lupin meets another werewolf who's surprisingly familiar._

Now, enjoy _Waking in the Clearing_


	2. Waking in the Clearing

The sun felt so nice on his bare shoulders. It was as if a house elf (a luxury he couldn't afford) had slid another warming stone amongst his sheets before pulling them up.

Remus rolled over onto his back, breathing in the heavy morning air and stretched out in the sun before realizing that there was moss under his back instead of a mattress. There were no pillows and no blankets. _Oh, shit._ his eyes slowly slid open as he looked around, noting that, yes, he **was** naked (not unusual when he was waking up due to the fact that he abhorred pajamas) and was not in his bed. Okay, so the not in bed thing was a problem because he could've sworn that the night before had been a full moon and he remembered taking his potion before things started to get fuzzy.

_There has to be something wrong with that new batch of potion. This is the second night I've woken up in the woods._ Shaking the sleep from his eyes, he blinked several times as they opened to the world around him. Yup. This was where he woke up yesterday: trees, trees, moss, leaves, naked girl, trees, more moss… _Shit._

The girl rolled toward him, grumbling about the morning and the sun and anything else she could grumble about without being forced to open her eyes.

_Must find clothes. Must figure out what happened. Must **not** tell Molly I woke up beside her naked daughter in the middle of the woods._

Remus scanned around for something to wrap around himself and lit on a cloak that must have been hers. At least it was a nice, manly, dark blue. He dashed to the tree where it was hanging haphazardly and wrapped it around his body before returning to the redhead. _Goodness, she's going to be embarrassed._

"Ginevra? Umm… Ginny?"

She stirred and opened her eyes slowly at his voice. She squinted at the bright morning sun and grinned up at him, "Morning, Remus." She stretched and pushed her hair out of her face and out of the way, the red cascaded over her narrow shoulders and pale back.

"Uh, not to seem too indecorous, but how did you end up here?" He looked at her, rather surprised at her lack of embarrassment at her own nudity, particularly given his extreme case of discomfort. He was **not** going to think about how good her hair looked falling down her bare back, either. This was Molly's daughter, for crying out loud!

"You don't remember, Remus?"

He shook his head, "The potion tends to cloud my memory for a few days…" he trailed off, again wondering how he ended up here if he was a wolf all night, curled up in his own bed.

"You took the potion!" She sat up quickly and looked at him, suddenly worried.

He nodded, "Of course I did, Ginny. I always take my potion. It's the only thing that keeps me from becoming a full-blown werewolf." He was not going to cringe at that word. He'd been one for decades, for God's Sake!

Ginny worried her lower lip, "You don't remember last night, then?"

He shook his head, suddenly much more worried than he had been, "I remember taking my potion. I remember waking up here."

"Nothing in between?"

"No. Why? What's this all about, Ginny?" He sat down beside her, letting the cloak pool around his hips.

"Remus, there were two potions. One that Snape sent as a mistake yesterday, that must have been the one you took again, and the one I tried to hand you last night…"

His eyes grew large as he slowly picked up on what had happened, "Ginny, I didn't. Did I?"

She nodded, "Professor Snape sent the second potion and I was supposed to bring it to you, but when I knocked on your door you'd already changed…" Instead of finishing the story that she knew he was going to grieve over, she turned her shoulder and pulled the hair away, showing him the bite mark that marred her white skin.

Tears were in his eyes as he reached towards her, unable to touch the spot but unwilling to shy away from her, "Oh God, Ginny. I'm so sorry. What on Earth have I done?"

She turned back, her hair falling into place, "Remus, it'll be alright." She reached out and hugged him, comforting despite her nudity.

He cried for a few minutes, unable to believe the ruin he'd brought to the poor girl, "I'm so sorry." He said through tears.

She leaned back and wiped away his tears, "Don't cry." She smiled, "At least if this had to happen it happened with you."

He nodded and looked at her, "So, how did we get here?" The potion that he'd taken a second time was still clouding his memory of the previous night.

For the first time since she woke up, Ginny coloured, "Well, the bite takes effect within 24 hours and I had no Wolfsbane potion to take…" she trailed off, worrying her lip again.

"So you're telling me we ran together last night?"

Her cheeks were slowly starting to match her hair, "Not exactly ran together…" She laughed nervously, "Well, let's just say that werewolf mating is… energetic, to say the least."


End file.
